Chapter 8

Gerhard

“You’re awake,” she whispers before a moan takes over. She stretches her arms overhead and arches her back in a graceful pose as her jaw drops into a huge yawn. Like a lioness showing off her fangs, my fiancée bares her tiny teeth. “You know it’s kinda rude to watch someone sleep.”

“Did you forget you belong to me? Aren’t you sore from last night’s punishment, or did you forget how you earned those aches? I like to look at who’s mine like any other work of art. You fascinate me and delight my senses,” I say, nuzzling under her ear. Her soft hair tickles my face as it tangles with the morning scruff on my jaw. She smells sugary sweet with the undertone of salt unique to a well-loved woman.

I haven’t been inside her yet, but I feel we’ve bonded closer than lifelong partners. What should we do today? I haven’t a reason to spank her, although my palms itch to redden her round bottom. Maybe I’ll try another shibari technique where I lie beneath her—both horizontal—so we could make love if there weren’t a foot of air between us. Suspended above this bed, she’s an angel. I could watch her rise to pleasure without the distraction of containing my impending orgasm at the same time.

“I slept in,” she says, collecting the sleep from her eyes with her fists.

“Perfect day to sleep in, since I’m not permitted to leave this apartment until our ceremony tomorrow. You can tell me why the Krampuses at the Registrar were afraid of elves kidnapping me, but at the same time, elves provide all the metal you use to conduct water in Christmas Town.”

“They worry because they doubt our ability to defend ourselves,” she snaps. “If I were a male and you a female, we wouldn’t have received such dire warnings. It’s the passive-aggressive remarks I’ve endured my whole life.”

“Why don’t you tell me about the elves anyway?” I draw little circles on her shoulder to appear as casual and docile as possible. The last thing I want is for Liselotte to group me with the males who pushed her around, but I must know the hazards of this world if I am to avoid them. She’s used to being the lone wolf, so she won’t volunteer information to a partner—not because she doesn’t want to but because she doesn’t realize she’s keeping information to herself.

“The Krampuses and the elves lived in harmony for centuries,” she says with a drawn-out, bratty sigh. I wait while she rearranges her pillows and rolls to face me. “We traded sugar goods for metal ones, for the elves lived in the underground mines, and the Krampuses lived above them. Then, children stopped believing in us at earlier and earlier ages. Parents thought our legends were silly, outdated, or abusive. Can you believe they blamed capitalism and the bribe/punishment culture on us? Like human nature wouldn’t have built those things on its own? Where do they think the stories to create us came from—humans, that’s who!”

“What happens without the belief? Do you disappear?”

“No,” she replies with a carefree giggle I savor. “We exist and can’t just poof into nothingness. It’s the magic that doesn’t regenerate. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. For elves and most Krampuses, it means no jumping realms…no Christmas Eve deliveries or punishments…no acts to foster new beliefs or solidify existing ones… It’s a downward spiral.” She bites her lip as if there’s more, so I press on.

“So, what if you’re stuck here? What does Earth have that you don’t besides a variety of foods?”

“We live on the sugar cube rations, Krampus Village eats chocolate bark and the fruit from the trees you met yesterday, and the elves live on candy mushrooms that grow in the mines, but there is no cooking fuel or ways to make fire without magic. Good thing there’s no cold weather because we would freeze.”

“I see.”

“But Christmas Town is a wonderful place…well, Krampus Village is a wonderful place. I loved growing up on the outskirts, but we shall live in the heart of it. The homes are set up in a spiral with the most respected and, therefore, most protected Krampus families in the center. That’s what I want to do today! I want to give you a glimpse into our future and what I’ve worked hard to achieve my whole life.”

“Instead of spending the day in bed with me? I’m wounded.” I place my fist over my heart to add to the theatrics.

As fiancés without a dating history—beyond platonic Christmas Eve poker nights—we need time alone to bond. I’m too old to obsess over putting my hands on her…but my gut instinct says to stay inside. Did the Registrar’s warning scare me because I’m off balance in a new realm, or am I intuitively slamming the brakes on a whirlwind relationship? As much as I want a fresh start with Liselotte, I also want to build on a solid foundation.

“We will be spending time together,” she says with a pout. “I want to show you my vision for our future and get your input. Please.”

Oh, those big brown eyes grab my heart like a vice and squeeze. I blew up my last marriage by wanting too much. Kathleen left me for an open marriage. I can’t make the same mistake of holding Liselotte too tightly. She agreed to exclusivity, not to be chained to the bed…well, not for more than an hour at a time. If Krampus Village is the most protected part of Christmas Town, they must have fences, guards, and security shit, right? Sounds less likely to be kidnapped from there than here…or maybe I’m seeking a reason to give her what she wants.

“Yes, let’s visit Krampus Village—”

“Oh, we can’t get inside the fences,” she says, propping herself onto her elbow. The coverlet slides down to reveal her breasts before she blushes and raises it back upward.

“Why not? Our marriage ceremony stands in the way of our relocation, but we were already accepted.”

“Oh, you can’t go inside as you are,” she says, shaking her head. “ You must be a Krampus. I can’t wait to change you into a Krampus! You will look so powerful and sexy.”

“Sounds elitist to me,” I murmur. I don’t know how I feel about not measuring up to Krampus Village standards because I lack horns and hooves. After the ceremony, I’ll be wobbly on the hooves, so how are they an improvement? I don’t know what to do with the horns either. How does that make me more male than who I am now?

“I know a place where we can peek inside. Don’t worry, the guards won’t find us.”

“I’m losing confidence in these guards if you can hide from them.” She slaps my shoulder playfully, and I mock injury. The politics of the Krampus caste system is out of her control, so I shouldn’t blame her for my hurt feelings. “Let’s shower and go. I’m sticky from sleeping in a bed made of sugar.”

“Why bother? The stickiness never goes away. Once you become a Krampus, you will sprout wiry fur to protect your skin glands, hooves to prevent foot fungus, horns to—well, I don’t know what your horns are for besides looking sexy.”

“Sounds like you’ve studied.” I kiss her shoulder and glide my hand down her chest to claim the breast she hides from me. “Have you fantasized about my horns?”

“All of you,” she moans. “In both forms…”

I tweak both nipples with my hands until she slaps me away.

“Stop stalling with your wicked ways. I’m not cowering in bed. We are showing those jerks we aren’t afraid.”

After a quick shower, where Liselotte refused to join me, we emerge from the grey apartment building into the grey Christmas Town. I school my face to hide my disappointment. Somebody pulled off a PR miracle when they told Earth about Christmas Town, the North Pole, and all the other stories of Santa and his elves’ home. I pictured singing inhabitants bustling around a colorful village of candy, presents, and whimsy. The candy trees are real—really terrifying—but even they got a gloss over before joining the legends. However, I’m clad in yesterday’s sweatsuit, so my outward appearance isn’t my best either.

Between the tuxedo and the sweats, I chose the lesser of the two evils.

“This part of town is ugly. You don’t have to hide your opinion from me. All Krampuses know and think it’s the Chancellor’s warped way of motivating us. You met his power-hungry second-in-command yesterday. Let’s hope you never meet the big guy in charge.”

“Why not Liselotte?” Eugene calls from the shadows beside the building. “Why wouldn’t your little pet want to meet the Chancellor?”

“How silly of me, my mistake,” she sneers. She places her fingertips to her lips in mock surprise. All her warmth is replaced with sarcasm and frosty, aloof mannerisms. “Why don’t you take him to meet your buddy, then?”

“Then how will I follow you? Or have you forgotten that his bracelet makes him my responsibility?”

“A technicality,” she says, straightening her sleeves. “You take yourself too seriously. Come on, Gerhard.”

I allow Liselotte to drag me away by my elbow. She speed walks with her elbows pumping. Interesting. Where does Eugene fall in the caste system? I must remember to ask Liselotte when we are alone. While I’d love nothing more than to knock this guy unconscious and carry him with us so we can have privacy without setting off some freaky bracelet alarm, I promised my lady I’d let her handle Krampus politics until I become a part of them. What would hurt worse—my arm on fire or betraying her fragile trust?

“Don’t walk so fast! I’m wounded from Christmas Eve, but that won’t stop me from following you to the ends of the realm—”

Liselotte stops abruptly. She squeezes my elbow in two pulses. At first, I thought it was a signal to wait by her side, but her eyes were closed. She breathes a monstrous inhale as if reining in the last straw of her temper. What is the history between these two? Why am I constantly in the dark?

“The last time you promised to follow me to the ends of the realm didn’t go your way, did it, Eugene? How about we agree to part ways amicably before I’m tempted to demonstrate how much I dislike your presence in my life?”

The larger Krampus pales beneath his fur. His hand twitches by his crotch, and I can guess how Liselotte made her message clear. My masculine anger on her behalf puffs out my chest. If he forced himself on her, and she defended herself…I’ll do more than injure his cock.

“Why do you go out of your way to make yourself unlovable?”

“Because when I tell the males who bullied me as a child that I’m not over it, they don’t listen. You made my life hell and then expected me to fall into your bed once my libido matured. Do me a favor. Remember me as the little girl you sabotaged, teased, and bullied. You don’t deserve to see the woman in me.”

As we march away, Liselotte’s duplicitous nature bares its ugly roots. No wonder she can’t ask for help and wears an Ice Queen mask most of the time. It makes me value her surrender and moments of bliss in my care all the more. She scraped tooth and nail to climb the ranks, with her peers tripping her every step of the way. Whether Eugene is a friend or enemy is immaterial when she hasn’t let go of the past. I better mind my p’s and q’s for my lady keeps score.

“Is he gone?” She asks in a shaky little voice at odds with her fierce posture.

“He’s watching from the building’s edge. He hasn’t moved to follow us.”

“Good.”

“Maybe that’s where we should keep him—in the past.”

“Yes, and focus on our future. See the tunnel behind the electricity box? We crawl through there. The box supplies the electrified fence—did I mention not to touch the fence?”

“You left that part out,” I grouse. She has the grace to blush when she checks my expression. Again, she changed the subject before we could dig to the heart of the matter with her childhood…and revealed another example where she failed to warn me of a potential hazard. What am I to do with her? Part of me wants to wrap her in cotton candy and spoil all the harshness from her psyche, while a small part of me wants to spank her until she treats me as more than a glorified pet. “Why are we sneaking through landscaping? Can’t your parents let us in for a visit?”

“They are no longer with us. Raising a family in Krampus Village is not only the highlight of our lives but also the twilight. We work for one hundred years after schooling to get admittance. When the kids are ready to leave for the academy, it's usually because their parents are falling apart, and they don’t want to watch them die.”

“That’s pretty bleak,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s the way of the Krampus, so don’t pity me. I’m looking forward to sending a classroom full of Krampuses to the academy before we’re finished.”

“Is that why you chose an old dude—because a boy toy would outlive you?”

“I didn’t choose you because you’re old, what a notion, although it did ease my conscience to know you had a full life before I stole you from it. I chose you because I like how you make me feel and want my young to grow up in the same environment.”

“How’s that?”

“Safe to be themselves.”

“Liselotte, that’s a huge responsibility. If I am to keep our family safe, you must tell me more about who bullied you, the elves, electric fences, Krampus security, possessed trees, and—"

“Sorry, I left holes in my descriptions but there are no possessed trees in town. That should put you at ease, right?”

We stop at the edge of coordinated landscaping topped by a barbed wire fence. The elves must love that their creation is what keeps them from invading Krampus Village. I lean closer to the shrubbery to verify it is made of candy, and sure enough, peppermint gummy leaves make up the bulk of their mass. On the opposite side of the fence are wispy trees resembling Earth’s weeping willows, but I bet contain more candy.

“Okay, well,” she says when I don’t answer her. “Follow me.”

With one glance over each shoulder, she ducks under the largest shrub and crawls behind the electric box. I follow, marveling at the metal container so at odds with the sugary wonderland. I hope I don’t develop an allergy to sugar with all this exposure before my conversion. Oh wow, the wisps weren’t part of trees but instead, the thatching of a candy-floss roof on a gingerbread house. Massive gumdrops act as cobblestones to connect the houses with narrow roads.

“Aww, look at those kids playing dodgeball,” I whisper as I approach Liselotte. She’s folded herself into a ball, hugging her knees. I wrap my arms around her so she rolls against my chest. We watch four mini-Krampuses chase a bouncing ball that I’m guessing is made of bubble gum. Their laughter brings a smile to Liselotte’s lips. I kiss her because I can’t help but want to share in her joy.

“A young Krampus has a carefree life. Those two boys and two girls have no idea they are different. The academy will divide them into tracks or castes based on their abilities. The Chancellor will divide them further with area assignments. Then nature will divide them the most when it’s time to select mates.”

“Maybe it doesn’t have to be that way with our kids,” I whisper. “What if we bring an attitude of acceptance to Krampus Village and raise them to love their neighbors?”

“See, that’s exactly why I picked you. You are everything I want to see in my realm.”

“Then give me space to enact change,” I say with a kiss on her temple.